An Election Analysis by Actual People - Not Politicians, Pollsters, Press, or Pundits - Part 1

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One of the pleasures of publishing the Coltons Point Times is the opportunity to share with you the comments of my readers, the everyday persons working to survive and filling their life with everything they love.  A series of post-election analysis will be offered from contributing writers sharing their thoughts on the election.

They are not seasoned journalists but they are dedicated, patriotic Americans.  At times it is refreshing to hear honest observations rather than biased news so do not expect to hear from any professional politicians, pollsters, press, or pundits.

I want to thank the contributing writers and hope we can all learn more about each other if we will just take the time to read.

This Contributing Author post is hosted on the Coltons Point Times.  Contributor authors control their own work and the views do not reflect those of the Coltons Point Times.  If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email in the comment section.

Observations on the 2016 Presidential Election - Anxiety, Fear, and Failure

By Michael Thomas Kelly, 

Illinois

“Mild restrictive fears affect 90% of our society…,” states the continuing education seminar on ‘Anxiety’, I recently attended on the subject.  The sources of anxiety include health, assets values, environment, self-concept, role function, needs fulfillment, goal attainment, personal relationships, sense of security, etc.  The most prevalent groups are 60 plus years of age, not college graduates, low income, unmarried, and unemployed.  They experience nightmares, flashbacks, grief, emotional numbness, depression, and avoidance behaviors.

Knowing the above to be true, I can begin to understand the 2016 election.  Donald J. Trump, (hereafter known as DJT) was a master at appealing to those fears and won the most states and electoral votes.  He started out across the Mississippi River in the state next to where I live, Iowa.  I went to a grade school auditorium for the Iowa Caucus named after a past president, to see people move to one area of seats and root for their candidate.  DJT had earlier, landed in Des Moines, Iowa in his Trump helicopter, with what was to become his signature arrival with much fanfare.                                                                                                          

Then in September of this year, I heard former Sec. Ray La Hood who was prior to being Sec. of Transportation, the Congressman from nearby Peoria, IL.  To quote, somewhat loosely, the former Secretary, “Donald Trump’s influence on the Republican Party will be felt for over 50 years…”  He also said he was not supporting him and gave a list of reasons.  Well, now the ‘influence" of President-elect Trump is written in the history books.

However, the personality of the 90% of people in the USA who suffer from episodes of anxiety tend to be ‘Perfectionistic” with their unrealistically, high standards going largely unmet.  They deny their anxiety, hold their emotions in an attempt to avoid more confusion, and have a strong need for control while attempting to maintain control by insisting on controlling others.

Low self-esteem and poor coping skills such as the use of alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and other substance abusing techniques prevail.

“A sense of helplessness, loss of confidence and self-doubt evolve until an inability to decide what to do results in doing nothing at all.”  Symptoms include pacing, shakiness, restlessness, fidgeting, hyperventilating, dry mouth, increased muscle tension, poor eye contact, impaired concentration, and overwhelming fear and panic, resulting in painful, intense memories for those who have anxiety.

This was the animus of the vox populi that DJT so readily tapped into resulting in his Electoral College win 2016.  I facilitated much of this animus as a deputy registrar during 2 weeks of early voting in a local area of mostly Republican, about 60-40/70-30%, voters in the home town of John Deere International headquarters.  On Election Day, I was at a more Democratic voters’ area but I still saw many white, males who needed two forms of I.D. to renew their voting status.  Many used their ‘Firearms’ state of IL card for identification.  I have not previously seen so many as some have feared showing this I.D. yet this time they were very proud to show it.

It was an instant start of conversation for us while I did the paper work.  There were strength, confidence, and eye contact, I had not seen in some of these people before.  They told me of their new-found faith in the possibility of change coming their way for a change.  It was renewed interest in politics by different segments of our society who felt empowered by someone who was expressing the feelings as they had previously not felt welcome to express because of our very primitive  fear of “…not making enemies aware of their whereabouts…” has led to more than eight years of “selective mutism”, being the silent  majority.

Now, as for former Secretary and former Senator and former First Lady Hillary R. Clinton, she saw some of the instant karma that happens when you weave webs of intrigue.  The Democratic Party made Sen. Bernie Sanders pay for being an Independent all these years.  I saw that baggage coming before the Iowa Caucus.  His age did not deter him from speeches & stumping for HRC in Davenport, IA in the final days of this very long campaign.  I think in hindsight there will be soul searching about the ‘finger on the scale’ by FBI Director James Comely.

I always thought HRC would have the baggage of her past ghosts and the contempt by Americans for nepotism.  Even though we (in the USA) managed earlier in our history to elect two men president from the Adams, Roosevelt, and Bush families, the Clinton family will not make the list.

Lastly, the question we the people, will be asking is, 'are we ready yet for women in the White House?"  So far the result is two resounding “NO's” for vice presidential bids by Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin, and one conflicted, anxiety generating Presidential race resulting again in, “NO!”

Someone had to do it first.  HRC did make history as the first woman to run for President, the first woman nominated by a major party, and first to win the popular vote, but alas, she lost the war.  Not surprising since women have only had the vote in the USA, (yes, I know about the state of Wyoming), for barely a century. More women than men live in the United States and the gap will continue to widen in the future.  One day a woman will become President of these United States.

Thank you, my grade school friend, Jim Putnam for the invite to’ journalize’ “Election 2016”

(About the author - Michael Thomas Kelly is a retired Registered Nurse and a Board Certified Medical-Surgical nurse who spent the last decade of his career in Emergency Nursing. Michael and his wife I live in Rock Island, IL. He has written half a dozen books of poetry but this is his first venture in journalism. Michael earned a B.A. in English-philosophy and Education. Kelly is a practicing Tibetan Buddhist and recently spent a month travelling with his Root Lama in the western part of China's Tibetan speaking area of Sichuan. He is active in his community and sits on the Board of the county owned Hope Creek Care Center, a skilled nursing facility.  Poetry, philosophy, politics, and nursing are his main passions in life.)

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Veterans Day - Will President Elect Donald Trump Fight for the Defenders of the Flag?

They have done enough for us - it is time we take care of them!

With petty politics still dominating our national debate, confusion over our war policy, an economy that may be on life support, partisanship again dominating our election, and price gouging from our banks and credit card companies, how does that make those returning from the war zone feel about what little we do as a nation to honor our veterans upon whose back we have built this temple to the Gods of greed and malicious behavior. Don't you think we could do a little better?

Since hot air and no substance have ruled in our nation's capitol it seems the least we could do is take a few moments to pause and ask what have we done for those who risk their lives to defend us. If we were truly in to soul searching as opposed to partisan babble the answer would be clear. Our failure to address the cost of government, rising debt and deficit spending, greed mongering by the very banks we bailed out with tax payers money, and the entire specter of empty promises and political lies is a sorry testament to leadership, concern, compassion and honesty toward veterans.

Our new President elect Donald Trump, the People's President, has the opportunity to turn the page and get on with the business of helping save those who saved us.

These past eight years after Obama took his Nobel Peace prize and then made mistake after mistake in foreign policy and war management as his Administration catered to the progressives and trillions of dollars in stimulus spending accomplished nothing more than to add $10 trillion more to the national debt.  At the same time, billions and billions of dollars wasted on failed war policies of the Obama administration have sucked the lifeblood out of our domestic programs.

During that time not only did we lose several thousand brave men and women defending a bizarre foreign policy and a non-existent war strategy, but America brought back over 700,000 disabled veterans, meaning we now have over four million disabled veterans from wars since World War II.

What happens to them, they get lost in a bureaucratic maze at the Veterans Department where far more often than should happen, a veteran can die before they get through the waiting period to see a doctor.  Not because they do not need the treatment, but because they cannot get an appointment for weeks and months because of so called administrative issues.  Any administrative issue that costs us the death of a veteran, especially an injured veteran, is a disgrace to our character, ability, and broken promises to those willing to risk their lives to protect us.

Perhaps our new president can finally fulfill the empty promises to our heroes and their families which have been so long neglected.

Let us vow to not let our political failures of the past continue to harm our veterans, those proud souls who answered the call to arms and now cannot get help for risking and often giving their lives.  Let us not let the malaise of failure continue to punish our veterans, and especially our wounded warriors and those suffering the many stressful results of war against terrorism.  These brave men and women and their families who depended on them should be the first priority for our government, before big bankers, big pharmaceuticals, and those who profit from the fruits of war.

Our government has demonstrated nothing to give people confidence, certainly nothing to indicate it is any different than business as usual, and even less to demonstrate they have a clear policy and the ability to implement the strategy. Our veterans and the people deserved much better.

Eight years ago we opened the door to change and got nothing in return. We the people have been short-changed and many are truly suffering.  This November 8 we opened the door to change again, through the People's Populist Donald Trump.  He has vowed to fix the mess facing veterans, and never let it happen again.  Godspeed.

The time is now to act.

Trump has promised to be the president of all Americans and we need him to be. He needs to be president of all the people.  We don't anoint presidents we elect them and once elected we are their boss.

If our government wants to honor the veterans, truly honor the veterans, then stop playing politics with war and foreign relations and give our new president the chance to make decisions, act bold, and demonstrate leadership.

Trump may be the leader we expected, we were promised, and we elected? It is time for the change?

Every day we should wake up and remember that it is our Constitution our president pledged to defend, the people's Constitution. The president must be held accountable.

So Washington, DC, stop the partisanship. Stop the bickering over ideological nonsense. Stop taking care of special interests and protecting people who should be prosecuted. Listen to the pulse of the country, listen to the heartbeat of America and you will see how far you have strayed from our expectations. Give our new president a chance to fix the problems we have inherited.

When we reach that point we have honored our veterans by honoring their families and friends. To our new President Trump, be American, take responsibility, and fix this mess and you will have all the support you need.
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CPT Spirits in the Sky - Leonard Cohen - Beloved Canadian Poet, Singer, Songwriter, and Legend

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Yesterday we lost another of the most prolific songwriters and storytellers in music in Leonard Cohen, whose haunting songs became better known than Leonard.  He will be missed but his difficult life path and his beautiful contributions to music history will never be forgotten.

Leonard Cohen - So Long Marianne

(Double click for full screen)

Yesterday, November 10, the following message appeared on the Leonard Cohen website.

November 10, 2016

Leonard Cohen

It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away.

We have lost one of music’s most revered and prolific visionaries.

A memorial will take place in Los Angeles at a later date.  The family requests privacy during their time of grief.

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C’est avec une profonde tristesse que nous vous annonçons que le poète, auteur-compositeur et artiste légendaire, Leonard Cohen est décédé.

Le monde de la musique a perdu un de ses visionnaires les plus prolifiques et vénérés.

Une cérémonie aura lieu à Los Angeles dans les prochains jours.  La famille souhaite vivre le deuil en toute intimité.

The following tribute to Cohen by The New York Times says it all.

Leonard Cohen, Epic and Enigmatic Songwriter, Is Dead at 82

By LARRY ROHTERNOV. 10, 2016

Leonard Cohen, the Canadian poet and novelist who abandoned a promising literary career to become one of the foremost songwriters of the contemporary era, has died, according to an announcement Thursday night on his Facebook page. He was 82.

Mr. Cohen’s record label, Sony Music, confirmed the death. No details were available on the cause. Adam Cohen, his son and producer, said: “My father passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles with the knowledge that he had completed what he felt was one of his greatest records. He was writing up until his last moments with his unique brand of humor.”

Over a musical career that spanned nearly five decades, Mr. Cohen wrote songs that addressed — in spare language that could be both oblique and telling — themes of love and faith, despair and exaltation, solitude and connection, war and politics. More than 2,000 recordings of his songs have been made, initially by the folk-pop singers who were his first champions, like Judy Collins and Tim Hardin, and later by performers from across the spectrum of popular music, among them U2, Aretha Franklin, R.E.M., Jeff Buckley, Trisha Yearwood and Elton John.

Mr. Cohen’s best-known song may well be “Hallelujah,” a majestic, meditative ballad infused with both religiosity and earthiness. It was written for a 1984 album that his record company rejected as insufficiently commercial and popularized a decade later by Jeff Buckley. Since then some 200 artists, from Bob Dylan to Justin Timberlake, have sung or recorded it. A book has been written about it, and it has been featured on the soundtracks of movies and television shows and sung at the Olympics and other public events. At the 2016 Emmy Awards, Tori Kelly sang “Hallelujah” for the annual “In Memoriam” segment recognizing recent deaths.

Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah

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Mr. Cohen was an unlikely and reluctant pop star, if in fact he ever was one. He was 33 when his first record was released in 1967. He sang in an increasingly gravelly baritone. He played simple chords on acoustic guitar or a cheap keyboard. And he maintained a private, sometime ascetic image at odds with the Dionysian excesses associated with rock ’n’ roll.

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At some points, he was anything but prolific. He struggled for years to write some of his most celebrated songs, and he recorded just 14 studio albums in his career. Only the first qualified as a gold record in the United States for sales of 500,000 copies. But Mr. Cohen’s sophisticated, magnificently succinct lyrics, with their meditations on love sacred and profane, were widely admired by other artists and gave him a reputation as, to use the phrase his record company concocted for an advertising campaign in the early 1970s, “the master of erotic despair.”

Early in his career, enigmatic songs like “Suzanne” and “Bird on a Wire,” quickly covered by better-known performers, gave him visibility. “Suzanne” begins and ends as a portrait of a mysterious, fragile woman “wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters,” but pauses in the middle verse to offer a melancholy view of the spiritual:

And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water,
And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower,
And when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him,
He said “All men will be sailors then until the sea shall free them.”
But he himself was broken, long before the sky would open,
Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone.

In 2008, Mr. Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which described him as “one of the few artists in the realm of popular music who can truly be called poets” and praised him for having “raised the songwriting bar.” In 2010, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Grammys’ group, gave him a lifetime achievement award, praising him for “a timeless legacy that has positively affected multiple generations.”

Wearing a bolo tie and his trademark fedora, Mr. Cohen dryly made light in his acceptance speech of the fact that none of his records had ever been honored at the Grammys. “As we make our way toward the finish line that some of us have already crossed, I never thought I’d get a Grammy Award,” he said. “In fact, I was always touched by the modesty of their interest.”

Leonard Norman Cohen was born in Montreal on Sept. 21, 1934, and grew up in the prosperous suburb of Westmount. His father, Nathan, whose family had emigrated to Canada from Poland, owned a successful clothing store; he died when Leonard was 9, but his will included a provision for a small trust fund, which later allowed his son to pursue his literary and musical ambitions. His mother, the former Masha Klonitzky, a nurse, was of Lithuanian descent and the daughter of a Talmudic scholar and rabbi. “I had a very messianic childhood,” Mr. Cohen would later say.

In 1951, Mr. Cohen was admitted to McGill University, Canada’s premier institution of higher learning, where he studied English. His first book of poetry, “Let Us Compare Mythologies,” was published in May 1956, while he was still an undergraduate. It was followed by “The Spice-Box of Earth” in 1961 and “Flowers for Hitler” in 1964. Other collections would appear sporadically throughout Mr. Cohen’s life, including the omnibus “Poems and Songs” in 2011.

A period of drift followed Mr. Cohen’s graduation from college. He enrolled in law school at McGill, then dropped out and moved to New York City, where he studied literature at Columbia University for a year before returning to Montreal. Eventually, after a sojourn in London, he ended up living in a house on the Greek island of Hydra, where he wrote a pair of novels: “The Favorite Game,” published in 1963, and “Beautiful Losers,” published in 1966.

“Beautiful Losers,” about a love triangle all of whose members are devotees of a 17th-century Mohawk Indian Roman Catholic saint, gained a cult following, which it retains, and eventually sold more than three million copies worldwide. But Mr. Cohen’s initial lack of commercial success was discouraging, and he turned to songwriting in hopes of expanding the audience for his poetry.

“I found it was very difficult to pay my grocery bill,” Mr. Cohen said in 1971, looking back at his situation just a few years earlier. “I’ve got beautiful reviews for all my books, and I’m very well thought of in the tiny circles that know me, but I’m really starving.”

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Within months, Mr. Cohen had placed two songs, “Suzanne” and “Dress Rehearsal Rag,” on Judy Collins’s album “In My Life,” which also included the Lennon-McCartney title song and compositions by Bob Dylan, Randy Newman and Donovan. But he was extremely reluctant to take the next step and sing his songs himself.

“Leonard was naturally reserved and afraid to sing in public,” Ms. Collins wrote in her autobiography, “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music” (2011). She recalled him telling her: “I can’t sing. I wouldn’t know what to do out there. I am not a performer.” He was “terrified,” she wrote, the first time she brought him onstage to sing with her, in the spring of 1967.

Leonard Cohen - Suzanne

(Double click for full screen)

Later that year, after being signed to Columbia Records by John Hammond, the celebrated talent scout who also signed Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, Mr. Cohen released his first album. Its simple title, “Songs of Leonard Cohen,” and its cover, a portrait of the artist gazing solemnly into the camera, matched the music, which was spare and unembellished, in stark contrast to the psychedelic style that then prevailed.

The record began with “Suzanne,” which was already being performed by folk singers everywhere thanks to the popularity of Ms. Collins’s version. It also included three other songs of great impact that would become staples of Mr. Cohen’s live shows, and that numerous other artists would record over the years: “Sisters of Mercy,” “So Long Marianne” and “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye.”

His second album, “Songs From a Room,” released early in 1969, cemented his growing reputation as a songwriter. “The Story of Isaac,” a retelling of the biblical tale of Abraham and Isaac, became an anthem of opposition to the war in Vietnam, and “Bird on a Wire” went on to be recorded by performers including Joe Cocker, Aaron Neville, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.

In 1971, Mr. Cohen released “Songs of Love and Hate,” which contained the cryptic and frequently covered “Famous Blue Raincoat,” but after that his production began to tail off and his live performances became less frequent. He released three more albums during the 1970s but, amid bouts of depression, only two in the 1980s and one in the 1990s.

The quality of his songs remained high, however: In addition to “Hallelujah,” future standards like “Dance Me to the End of Love,” “First We Take Manhattan,” “Everybody Knows” and “Tower of Song” date from that era.

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Mr. Cohen, raised Jewish and observant throughout his life, became interested in Zen Buddhism in the late 1970s and often visited the Mount Baldy monastery, east of Los Angeles. Around 1994, he abandoned his music career altogether and moved to the monastery, where he was ordained a Buddhist monk and became the personal assistant of Joshu Sasaki, the Rinzai Zen master who led the center, who died in 2014. He took the name Jikan, which means “silence.”

During the remainder of the decade, there was much speculation that Mr. Cohen, rather than merely taking a sabbatical, had stopped writing songs and would never record again. But in 2001, he released “Ten New Songs,” whose title suggests it was written while he was in the monastery. It was followed in 2004 by “Dear Heather,” an unusually upbeat album.

In 2005, Mr. Cohen sued his former manager, Kelley Lynch, accusing her of defrauding him of millions of dollars that he had set aside as a retirement fund, leaving him with only $150,000 and a huge tax bill and forcing him to take out a new mortgage on his home to cover his legal costs. The next year, after Ms. Lynch countersued, a judge awarded Mr. Cohen $9.5 million, but he was unable to collect any of the money.

The legal battles may have soured Mr. Cohen’s mood, but they did not seem to damage his creativity. In 2006, he published a new collection of poems, “Book of Longing,” which the composer Philip Glass set to music and then took on tour, with Mr. Cohen’s recorded voice reciting the words and Mr. Glass’s ensemble performing the music.

In 2008, Mr. Cohen hit the road for the first time in 15 years for a grueling world tour, which would continue, with a few short breaks, through 2010. He was driven, he acknowledged, at least in part by financial necessity.

“It was a long, ongoing problem of a disastrous and relentless indifference to my financial situation,” he told The New York Times in 2009. “I didn’t even know where the bank was.”

Combined with a pair of CDs and accompanying DVDs recorded in concert, “Live in London” and “Songs From the Road,” the constant touring, before audiences often larger than those he had enjoyed in the past, clearly eased Mr. Cohen’s financial problems. Billboard magazine estimated that the 2009 leg of the tour alone earned him nearly $10 million.

Over that three-year period, Mr. Cohen performed nearly 250 shows, many of them lasting more than three hours. He seemed remarkably fit and limber, skipping across the stage, doing deep-knee bends and occasionally dropping to his knees to sing.

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The shows were not without incident: During a show in Valencia, Spain, in 2009, he fainted, and early in 2010 one segment of the tour had to be postponed when he suffered a lower back injury. He recovered, however, and in 2012 he released “Old Ideas,” his first CD of new songs in more than seven years, and embarked on another marathon tour.

That pattern of extensive touring and recording continued into the decade. In 2014, for instance, Mr. Cohen released a CD of mostly new material, “Popular Problems,” as well as a three-CD, one-DVD set called “Live in Dublin.” His final studio album, “You Want It Darker,” was released in October 2016.

Mr. Cohen never married, though he had numerous liaisons and several long-term relationships, some of which he wrote about. His survivors include two children, Adam and Lorca, from his relationship with Suzanne Elrod, a photographer and artist who shot the cover of his 1973 album, “Live Songs,” and is pictured on the cover of his critically derided album “Death of a Ladies’ Man” (1977); and three grandchildren.

To the end, Mr. Cohen took a sardonic view of both his craft and the human condition. In “Tower of Song,” a staple of live shows in his later years, he brought the two together, making fun of being “born with the gift of a golden voice” and striking the same biblical tone apparent on his first album.

Now you can say that I’ve grown bitter, but of this you may be sure
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor
And there’s a mighty judgment coming, but I may be wrong
You see, you hear these funny voices in the tower of song.

“The changeless is what he’s been about since the beginning,” the writer Pico Iyer argued in the liner notes for the anthology “The Essential Leonard Cohen.” “Some of the other great pilgrims of song pass through philosophies and selves as if through the stations of the cross. With Cohen, one feels he knew who he was and where he was going from the beginning, and only digs deeper, deeper, deeper.”

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Trump Wins Presidency says Coltons Point Times Article October 19, 2016

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News Bulletin!

Dateline: Washington, D.C.

November 8, 2016 - 10:00 pm EST

Polls Close in East - Hillary Declared Winner

The polls just closed in the East while remaining open in the Midwest and West, but the mainstream media has already declared Hillary Clinton the 45th and first female in our nation's history President.

Based on the results of Exit Polls throughout the country, most media declared Hillary the decisive winner.  The Exit Polls are interviews with actual voters leaving the voting booths.

Unlike other political polls of which there are many, only one presidential Exit Poll exists and is taken.  Since the poll is owned by a coalition of the major television networks, and it is not released in it's entirety to the public, there is no way to validate or verify the results.

In spite of the tremendous media bias against Donald Trump and media devotion to Hillary Clinton, it still seems a bit odd the networks declared her the winner with just below 5% of the national vote cast and counted.

Over 50% of the public still has time to get out and vote.  One might suspect there is media collusion in trying to discourage possible Trump supporters in these states to give up and not vote for Trump.

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News Bulletin!

Dateline: Washington, D.C.

November 9, 2016 - 1:00 am EST

Historic Hillary Victory a Tidal Wave claim Pundits

The polls have now closed in the continental United States as the nation and world await the results of the presidential election.  So far just 22% of the popular vote has been reported.

Early absentee voting tallies indicate a record number of Americans cast their ballots before election day.  Political pundits say it is another great sign for a Hillary landslide.  "Banner headlines" in the major newspapers early editions, along with a never ending stream of "braking news" bulletins on television networks rejoice in the Clinton victory over Donald Trump, as projected by the media.

No results are official until certified by the election boards in each state.  None have been certified yet and the national tracking map indicates no electoral votes have been awarded.

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News Bulletin!

Dateline: Washington, D.C.

November 9, 2016 - 5:00 am EST

The national media continues to tout the Exit Polls and a Hillary landslide but the release of actual vote totals is at an excruciatingly slow pace by the states.

Those votes reported to the media indicate a much closer race than the Exit Poll blowout projection.  No pattern is emerging in voting other than a near dead heat in national vote total while the seven key swing states remain too close to predict at this time.

Could it be the national news media Exit Poll is wrong?  Early indications suggest if the TV networks actually reported the results received in Exit interviews, the voters were giving misleading answers to the media.

Perhaps voters believe they have a right to keep silent when it comes to elections, an exercise of their right to privacy.

At the same time, there are reports of much higher new voter totals than expected, and the turnout among Independents and Republicans is up significantly.

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News Bulletin!

Dateline: Washington, D.C.

November 9, 2016 - 10:00 am EST

Clinton Landslide fails to Materialize - Exit Polls Wrong - but How Wrong?

A haunting silence has overcome the nation as Americans wake up and go to work expecting to hear from our new President Hillary Clinton.  Instead, there is a heightened sense of anxiety on the part of those prematurely declaring Clinton the victor.

After late night calls for a Clinton victory celebration, her failure to pull away in the electoral count has stunned and silenced her Establishment friends.

While all seven key swing states hang perilously in the balance, the leader in popular votes swings wildly from Clinton to Trump and back like a pendulum on steroids.

Perhaps the Populist Revolution did not fade away as predicted by the Establishment and their news media.  Maybe the election has nothing to do with Donald Trump but is a referendum on Clinton and the Establishment.

If proven true, it will be the greatest upset in election history far surpassing the Truman - Dewey race in 1948.

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News Bulletin!

Dateline: Washington, D.C.

November 9, 2016 - 6:00 pm EST

Populist Momentum Carries Trump to 270 electoral votes as America's Version of the UK Brexit Vote Stuns the World

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Donald Trump Trumps all Odds and Beats Hillary Clinton to become President

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Chicago Tribune

'C'mon man': Obama tells voters to get serious; Trump, Clinton fire away

The Telegraph

'Dear God, America what have you done?': How the world and its media reacted as Donald Trump poised to become US president

NBC News

World Reacts to Trump's Election Win: 'It's the End of an Era'

Business Insider

Donald Trump shocks world, wins presidential election in biggest upset in political history

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